Use the BBC micro:bit in the BLOODHOUND Rocket Car contest

Oct 2, 2016

How fast do you think a car can travel? While you're unlikely to see your parents' car go faster than 70 miles per hour, there's a team of engineers aiming to build a rocket car that goes faster than 1,000mph!

The BLOODHOUND project, the team of engineers trying to beat that target speed, are helping school children across the UK to get their own taste of super speed... using the BBC micro:bit.

Working closely with Microsoft Education and the British Army, the Race for the Line Rocket Car Competition will be rolled out to 4,000 schools across the UK, reaching an estimated 112,000 students.

The “Race for the Line” BBC micro:bit Model Rocket Car Competition will encourage pupils aged 11 to 16 to work together to make a foam rocket car powered by a small solid fuel rocket motor, and pit it against rival teams.

Teams compete at open race days at one of 120 regional Race HUBs. The top two primary and secondary school teams from each hub will qualify for the regional finals in March 2017. The winning primary and secondary school teams at each of the 15 regional finals are invited to the national finals held in June at the Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire.

To prove just how fast your car is travelling, the BBC micro:bit can be used to capture data on your car's speed, then upload it to a computer.

Use that data to tweak and experiment with your car design and you may have a champion machine in the making!

Participating teams will learn about Newton’s 3rd law of motion, physics, engineering, chassis design, how rockets work, teamwork, time keeping and most crucially, mathematics to calculate the speed attained.

Schools and youth groups can visit BLOODHOUND’s social learning site to find out how to enter by visiting www.racefortheline.com and must register by 31st October to receive their free rocket car kits.